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Ulthima By Night
Ulthima By Night Ulthima by Night is a Nazareth: World of Darkness campaign set in Ulthima, the largest city state in the Julian Dominion and the ancient "Patriae" of the Radilus or the "Clan of the Crown" that follows the unlives of 2 of 6 optional player characters in the nights of Ulthima starting in 868 AU, 5 years before the Modern Nights and the events of Nazareth by Night and Nazareth: Shades of Black. It begins on January 1st 868 AU, the night of a Purple Moon above Ulthima. There is a common superstition originating in the Julian Empire's supernatural courts that the purple moon is due to the Ancients bestowing favour meaning that all childer embraced under a purple moon are "destined or preconditioned" to a great destiny or great power and although superstition is banned by the Tower many powerful, older, demons and vampires tend to embrace the night of a Purple Moon while playing it off to Tower authorities that they were embraced some nights before. This is how 2 of the 6 Player Characters were embraced the same night and ultimately forced to be "partners" of sorts. Ulthima By Night is a sandbox story of treachery, ambition, politics and dark magic as two "Violets" as born in the purple childer are referred to navigate their way into a place in the Tower stronghold of Ulthima forced to tangle with their sires, rival supernaturals, secretive plots and brutal violence as they emerge into unlife. All information besides the background stories is free to customize and their is no linear plotline. Player Character Backrounds Radilus // The Clan of the Crown You are finally making it at your job of choice; a Stockbroker at the Great Bank of Ulthima, the ancient bank and iconic landmark of the Kentro district that funded the construction of the statues of the Great Masters. Of course, you work in the stock exchange so you aren't exactly funding great works of architecture, rather you're helping rich old men pick which companies and mercenary groups to invest in but it was still a good paying job at a very prestigious bank. Not to mention you're amazing family life, although your sister and you had been street orphans since a young age you always had eachothers back and now that you got the big gig you wanted you're helping pay for her law school education. Not bad for some street urchins huh? Your life as a stockbroker isn't amazingly fancy despite the swanky office and glamorous parties and you find yourself a bit bored of the daily grind but proud of the life you're living. On January 1st 868 AU you awoke in your small Marmaro apartment and said bye to your sister as she headed to class and you got ready for work, she reminds you of your office party at 6 pm and tells you to dress nice and try not to get drugged by creepy bankers and rich perverted investors. As you chuckle at her joke she heads out of the door and you eventually head to work, spending a normal and boring day looking over papers and talking to rich assholes and merchant lords and Senators and after work you stop for tea and a muffin at your favourite cafe around the corner from the Great Bank. You stop at home and change into a nice suit and go to that office party hosted at your manager's penthouse in Kentro with a lovely balcony looking out over Kentro and the Great Bank with the background of the left Great Masters. It was going boring and you weren't the biggest fan of the wine and Ouzo they were serving and were getting especially bored of all your painfully boring coworkers and inverstors, you considered leaving early but quickly got distracted when '''''she '''''walked in. A tan woman with authoritative eyes and long raven black hair with a square-cut face and an elegant dress, she wasn't exactly beautiful or insanely attractive, rather intimidated, her very presence seemed to demand respect and you couldn't help but gaze upon her move across the room, guided by Aegius Floros, your manager and the head of the Great Bank's Stock Exchange. As you looked at her you seemed to catch her eye as she lead Floros over to you. He introduced you to her as one of the exchange's highest performing stockbrokers since you got the position and informed you of the name of this aggressively noble woman; Thea Doukas, an important Investor in the Stock Exchange and a Partner of the Great Bank. You exchange pleasantries and she seems to take interest in you. Throughout the rest of the party you stay and continue to look at her, something about her just attracts you in a way you haven't felt before. It's as if you wish to kneel to her. As a purple moonlight shrouds the sky of the Ulthiman night and party-goers ooh and aah at the purple moon Thea privately approaches her and tells you to come to her apartment to discuss a job offer, remarking she had been meaning to find a new financial advisor. You come with her in her private limousine and on the way she "suggests" you give her your hand. Without much thinking you do, and she bites into your wrist. Everything starts to go black, then purple, then dark red for a long time, almost an eternity, before you awake on a fine blue chaise lounge in a very nice mansion... STARTING DISTRICT: Kéntro Thea Doukas, the Radilus Sire. Thea Doukas is little known outside of the supernatural world beyond the parties and gatherings of the most elite Bankers and Corporate Investors. Ms. Doukas, as she prefers to be called, is one of the wealthiest women in Ulthima and a senior partner and investor in the Great Bank yet ask any of her many friends in the Bank and they'll have no idea where the money comes from. Some say she's clearly a mob boss, some day she must've divorced lucky and invested luckier and some even say she may be some sort of illegal mage who makes her money off artifact trading. All three of these are slightly true... Thea Doukas is indeed a mob boss of sorts, she leads a tidy operation based out of the 7th to 8th Floors of a tall skyscraper in Kentro where she generates money off of drug dealing, extortion, racketeering, artifact trafficking, and any and all common criminal activity. She also "married" into a lucky family. She is the Childe of a once important member of the Prefect's court named Paskal who handled many financial operations for the Prefect. Unfortunately, about a year of Doukas's rebirth Paskal was caught skimming money off the top and was burned alive with holy magic. The Prefect, in a rare show of grace erhaps slightly due to paskal's friendship with Radilus Elder Vanessa Delcroix gave Thea quite a few businesses and the 7th to 8th floors of that skyscraper. Since "inheriting" her sires operations she has worked in Ulthima as an important power player and money haver for about a decade and she has no shortage of impressive connections to show for it, she's good friends with the Baron of Kentro, she's on good terms with the Prefect and the Seneschal and even is often spotted out about town with the Courtmaster and some say she's been seen entering the chambers of one Lady Delcroix a few times... her unlife is not without challenges though. Thea Doukas is not content with the current state of affairs in Ulthima she believes most of the Baronies are run by inept morons who waste their land and she thinks that it's time a Radilus took over one of these districts. She has expanded her mob operations into Politechni, Marmaro, and the Parthenon District and the Barons of those districts do indeed take it personal, Thea is entering a cold war of sorts with 3 Barons as she chooses which district to take over... She heard of this silly "Purple Moon" superstition a few days before it was expected to have arrived and while she always trusts in the wisdom of the Tower and knows that no superstition is true... It can't hurt to sire a childe on an allegedly lucky day can it? She prepares and eventually sires a childe to aid her with this Cold War of hers and help find a hidden secret that she knows is somewhere in the hills beyond Ulthima... Lilin // The Clan of the Rose It only took a few years, enough money for a good agent, working out way too much and never eating any good food ON TOP OF being actually good at acting and you were finally a professional actor in plays across the Dominion. You weren't super famous, but frequent Theatre viewers could recognize you and you had met some famous actors and actresses and even worked with some legendary playwrights. You found yourself off stage after a long run of performing at the Masters Theatre in the Riverfront district and you were starting your little break from the stage with a bang, a night at a popular nightclub and casino called the "Kommaspiti" or "Party House". It was the hottest club on the Riverfront and you and a few friends blew loads of money to have access to the VIP section for New Years Day on January 1st 868 AU. You spent all night starting at 5 pm gambling and drinking and partying until about 11 pm when the booze was wearing off a bit, you were getting annoyed at how expensive the drinks were here and you were running out of chips at the Blackjack table. As your friends started leaving and you decided to find a table and get some post-party food you spot '''''him.''''' He was a tall and fit man with seemingly perfect slicked back hair and entrancing eyes. He wore a fine suit and walked with 2 tall and muscular bodyguards on each side. Normally, he wouldn't be your type at all in any way, but something about him drew you to him almost like a drug. He was so beautiful, you were in love with the appearance of this man and your heart started to pound as he approached you. He introduced himself to you as Spiro Manolis, the owner of Kommaspiti, who had seen your performance at the Masters Theatre and was very impressed and captivated by your performance. He asks you to join him in his private booth. The hours that followed were filled with pure ecstasy as you drank a strange wine with him and he enraptured you in conversation and at the end of it he leans in and everything cuts to black, then purple, then red. You awake in an office on a couch next to a window overlooking the main band area of Kommaspiti with Spiro Manolis sitting on an armchair with a glass of that strange wine with a hunger for that odd beauty, and a taste of that precious unknown sustenance you crave... STARTING DISTRICT: The Riverfront Spiro Manolis, the Lilin Sire. Spiro Manolis is a clever yet small time Lilin operating out of the Riverfront in Ulthima who's public persona is that of a war veteran club owner whos two main businesses, the incredibly elite and popular jazz club Kommaspitti and the scandalous hotspot brothel Prometheus have made him quite a rich man, perhaps the richest businessowner in the Riverfront. Despite his business success Manolis is relatively obscure in the Ulthima supernatural scene as he is fully under the iron hand of the long reigning heavily annoying and gossiped about yet respected and powerful Baron of the Riverfront, the Quasimodo Himeros and his slightly less crazy but billion times more arrogant Childe and heir-assumptive, Aphrodite. Rumours say Manolis, despite his quiet loyalty to Himeros is being backed by Himeros's enemies across Ulthima to see the Quasimodo and his Childe purged and a new, more socially tolerable, Baron put in place and the powers opposing Himeros seem to have backed Spiro to take the office. Spiro Manolis now has the pressure of unknown anti-Himeros conspirators and Himeros himself on his back as he tries to weave a plot together to kill or get rid of the near-elder Himeros and take his place as a Baron. Mr. Manolis, fearing that the odds he were faced with were too giant to tackle truly alone, hears of the superstitious legend of the Purple Moon at Court one day and decides to take the liberty of siring a lucky "Violet" of his own... Malthusian // The Clan of the Blood You have been studying at the Mageíapolis, the ancient Magic Academy of Ulthima based in the Parthenon District, for nearly a year and a half now and you are certainly quite ahead of the competition in terms of magical ability, you have shocked your teachers with your progress and you have concocted yet another scheme to gain even more favour with the Headmasters and maybe this one is just big enough you could fast forward your studies and graduate, maybe become a Battlemage or a Scholar or a magical Archaeologist or even maybe get involved with the Mages Guild... The possibilities are endless! Your path to supermage legend status lies in an old dusty book you found in the very back of the Lower Library at the Mageíapolis, it's a dusty and falling apart leatherbound un-named book and in it it describes very odd things... Most notably it mentions the "Cruentus Inferni" that "lives beneath and above the streets of Ulthimportus" and goes into detail with rituals all involving blood... You know better than to go do this, necromancy is prohibited, but if you find whatever magic this is maybe you can report it to the Magic Authority? or maybe you can use it? You know that pursuing this would surely get you kicked out of the Academy if caught and maybe even arrested but something about the book is just tempting... The book mentions that "teachers of the true power" still remain in Ulthima. You realize the first few pages are super old, maybe before Morisan Unity and the last few pages are fairly new... If you can find this book you can reinvent an ancient form of magic! Maybe you could become Headmaster of the new school, become the most famous mage from the Imperial City to the Colonies...It all seems to lie in the book. You seek out knowledge, taking leave from your classes to investigate with your good friend Acantha who's equally convinced this is the path to glory after showing her the book. You eventually find yourself in the Steamworks based on a tip from a pale magic trinket salesman you find in the Riverfront after weeks of questioning every occult and magic shopowner in the city of Ulthima. The pale man inspects the book and looks at you sadly... "Do you really want to know where to learn more of this?" he asks, as if he knows the answer. "Well then head to the House of Hestia in the Steamworks right next to the Energy Authority's office. Can't miss it. Ask the owner for a key to the basement suite." he seems to say sadly before motioning you out of his shop. You and Acantha arrive at the House of Hestia, a 4 story dilapidated flophouse with the sigil of Hestia, an ancient Ulthiman Goddess of the Hearth, burnt into the double doors, it becomes quickly apparent this certainly isn't a place of worship. Pale vagabonds, drug addicts, homeless and diseased squat and sit on old benches around the building eating stew and remaining eerily silent as you and your companion head to the front desk where a tired robed lady, seemingly of Kalpuran or Karaydi descent, eyes you up and down and then returns to sorting papers without giving you a word. You say the words matter-of-factly and she tosses a key at you. You and Arcantha head down a long flight of stairs and arrive in a stone walled medieval looking chamber and you are greeted by 3 odd looking men, 2 in long billowing red robes and 1 in a red died leather armor wielding a freaky black hilted curved sword and emanating a scary vibe. They all seem to smile unnaturally as you enter the room. You and Acantha explain you found the book and want to learn and that you searched for days. The men seem impressed you found them. The leader of the group tells you that he's impressed with your ability for searching and say that you can be a member of the Cruentus Inferni mentioned in the book, he'll teach you great power. He then lets you know that the book was only meant to attract one prospective. He shoots his hand at Acantha and a odd red spike that seems to be liquid held together by some force comes flying at her. It nails her gut and she goes flying against the wall, looking at you in total horror in the last seconds of her life. The next minute is a blur that you both can't remember and felt like 900 years. Someone came walking down the stairs,arriving as Acantha hit the floor and the man with the sword grabbed your shaking hand. The woman who arrives in the room has long flowing blonde hair and wears a fine velvet red dress. The man throws you aside and cusses as she arrives. "Kill him too! He lead this bitch here" the man says, drawing his sword as the woman makes a similar scimitar appear out of thin air made of that same odd red liquid force. The robed men loom over you before stomping you into a pulp. The last thing you remember is everything fading to black as the men crush your body. You awake in an unfamilar room with a window overlooking what you think is the Riverfront in a room full of occultish bits and baubles, lit candles, and that woman staring at you looking deep in thought. Noticing you've come to, she sits on the edge of your bed and introduces you to...well...unlife. STARTING DISTRICT: The Riverfront Adrianna, the Malthusian Sire Adrianna is a fairly prolific Malthusian "witch" and Covenmistress operating out of her coven's headquarters, the top 2 floors of a 3 story Occult shop and magic history museum in the Riverfront simply called the "Ulthima Magical History Centre". She is a popular attendee at the Prefect's court known to be willing to debate and engage in pleasant conversation with anyone and is known to be pleasant and witty in conversation. She's quite popular in the Court. Privately, most of the Ulthima Tower and certainly everyone in the local Malthusians knows she is quite the powerful individual, trained originally as both a Curator and a Exterminator, she has served Polybius Midylos, the local Malthusian Elder and Principal of the Ulthima Covens for decades and underneath her social butterfly demeanour she is a scholar and historian who will stop at nothing to get the knowledge she desires and increase her authority in Ulthima and the Malthusian Hierarchy. In recent nights, Adrianna has been sending her coven out hunting "heretics" and doing some hunting herself to impress Principal Midylos. Privately, she has been on the hunt for ancient secrets and artifacts to add to her personal collection and deepen her Sanguinfigura understanding. Secretly, she plots against rival Malthusian Covenmasters to ensure her future as Polybius's favourite and even works in intense intrigue in the Court hoping to gain the ear of the Prefect himself. Like most Malthusians, she privately believes certain superstitions. You can only go so far as a skeptical witch. When she tailed two seemingly naive and ignorant mages in training when they found a book used as recruitment for the Cruentus Inferni and found it relatively quickly she was impressed and even more impressed when once she'd killed 2 of 3 agents of Ichorus and found one of the 2 mages had survived a savage beating just barely she realized that it was the night of a Purple Moon. Never one to ignore coincidence, she embraced a violet of her own to aid her in her campaign for importance and power in Ulthima. Marchrosian // The Clan of the Beast You have been rising in the ranks at the Ares Stadium in the Riverfront as an Arena Fighter, doing well and getting paid decent money in the smaller arenas beating other "Gladiators" and you're doing well enough the Arenamasters say you might move up to the Intermediate arena soon which is one step to fighting in the Main Stadium. Maybe then you wouldn't have to do your other job... Fighting pits are common in Kátopóli, the city beneath the streets of Ulthima that has existed since the medieval era, the Hoplites, Senate, and even the Magic Authority ignore Kátopóli entirely, thinking it's convenient the worst sin, drug dealers, criminals, and worse live beneath the city rather then tainting the streets, in fact, the only government agencies that even has a presence in Kátopóli is the Energy Authority who manage the Generators beneath the city and the Waste Authority that manages the sewers and the garbage pits and they don't care to report enough in Kátopóli. You go there when you're not fighting at the Ares Stadium and fight in the illegal fighting pits which makes way more money. Money you need to help pay for your Mother's medicine and the apartment you guys share in the Steamworks. If you really need a lot of cash fast, which you do often has your mother keeps having to go on experimental treatments and your landlord keeps raising rent, you participate in the death matches at Hedonas in Central Kátopóli taking home about 70 dollars per match and usually not getting to beat up. You're popular there for your brutality, with your nickname being "The Beast". You were up against some super big Kalpuran guy that everyone seemed confident would win and it looks like a group of shifty gangsters in the corner have a lot of money bet on this guy. You're eager to prove them wrong. The fight is quick and easier than you expected, needless to say, you kick the big guy's ass and snap his neck. You head to the guy in charge, collect your 70 bucks and head out the backdoor, intent on getting home to help your mother with whatever